Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is increasingly used for inventory purposes. Because it is sometimes necessary for an RFID reader to identify a large number of RFID-tagged objects in a small area, the large number of overlapping responses can cause errors in the inventory process, especially with tag-talks-first technology in which every energized tag repeatedly transmits its response as long as it is energized. To address this problem, flags have been placed in some types of RFID tags that, when set with a command from the RFID reader, prevent that tag from responding to further queries. A blanket reset command can then reset these flags for all the tags in the RFID reader's range. Turning these flags on and off can reduce the number of concurrently responding tags to a manageable level, and thus make the inventory process more accurate and manageable. However, some environments will pass the tagged objects past multiple RFID readers. This can result in the flags being set and reset in numerous different ways, which can ultimately cause a lot of redundant reads and inferior performance.